Under-21s progressing despite defeats - coach

BACK-to-back defeats for the Island U21s is not all that bad, says their coach, Adam Farish. So far this season the juniors have yet to register a victory and that has seen them stuck firmly to the bottom of the Yorkshire Guernsey Division One table.

Their latest defeats came at the hands of Collins Stewart Two and then CS One.

But Farish is still happy.

'They've been really good this year,' he said, 'especially against CS One. They played really well and for a couple of quarters it was really close.

'Our toughness has been better this season and right the way through the team they are willing to take the game to the opposition.

'We've given some decent performances and we certainly make everyone work hard.'

Farish's team went into the clash against CS Two missing a few players and the opposition made them suffer as Paul Wilkes turned in 26 points and Jason Hooper hit 20. Winning all four quarters, the title hopefuls had the advantage in both the inside and out game.

The juniors relied heavily on the shooting of both Matt Sawbridge and Ricard Fletcher as they hit 10 three-pointers between them, but it was never going to be enough as their team lost 90-66.

On to CS One and it was more of the same for the juniors as they went down 72-49.

The reigning champions were true to form as they started slowly and found themselves 17-18 down at the end of the first quarter.

Sawbridge led an up-tempo junior side during this opening stanza but they could not keep it going as CS proceeded to find some easy fast breaks.

By half-time, the champions were up 41-26 and the third and fourth quarters continued in a similar vein as they ran home victors by 23 points.

CS's Lee Ogier led the scoring with 20 while Jason Hooper added 16 in his side's loss.

In Division Two, top-of-the-table La Fraternelle Allstars had a shock when they were overcome by second-from-bottom Brock Road.

The youth club side gave the Allstars a lesson in finishing as Fletcher, Scott Rowe and Max Hamon were all on fire.

The Allstars, with Neil Chester and Olly Kuehberger having off nights, struggled to find the basket as they went down 44-77.

The second division also saw Richmond get a valuable win over fellow title hopefuls Goldridge Estate Agents.

Richmond held a 29-22 lead at half-time and a terrible third quarter from Goldridge, which saw them get only eight points to Richmond's 19, near enough handed the match to their rivals.

Richmond continued their dominance into the last quarter to win comfortably 69-44.

Manzur got the year off to a bang with a 100-point win over Colourcare. Last year's champions were keen to hit the ground running as they overwhelmed their newly-promoted opponents from start to finish.

Matt Sarl bagged 23 points, as Stu Dunne got 22 and Vale Rec Priaulx footballer Dan Cooper notched up 20.

Manzur also had an easy time in getting the better of the Island Women, winning 100-32.

Despite the victories, Manzur's coach Neal Bewey is not getting carried away.

'They were against some of the weaker teams in the league so the score lines are flattering,' he said.

'We had the physical advantage over the women and Colourcare have just been promoted and are a development side so they are quite young and still learning the game. But I'm very happy with the results.

'It was good for after Christmas and a couple of lads had put some extra pounds on.'

Unfortunately for the women, they lost to Collins Stewart 94-44 as well.

In the Women's Division A, Eventure Hornets took care of The Learning Co 33-27 before narrowly beating Placing People First 41-40 while in Division B, the Chris Lamb coached Martel Dunn lost out to GTS Allstars 34-32.